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Celebrity shag slicer Ric Pipino will open a second Manhattan location at the Galleria at 115 E. 57th St.
The stylist already has a glammed-up NoLIta location on Centre Street, where he services celebs including “Blue Bloods” actress Bridget Moynahan. Pipino also hawks his own hair-care line, Revolution in Cut.
Pamela Haber and Beth Rosen of Robert K. Futterman & Associates represented Pipino in the deal for the new salon.
The Moinian Group’s Kimia Shadrokh represented the Moinian Group ownership, which had an asking rent of $360,000 a year.
The 3,605-square-foot space is part of the former Mendy’s, and the Moinian Group still has 3,202 square feet of that available.
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In a trendy Brooklyn deal, Aldo shoes is slipping into 2,200 square feet and taking over the entire 466 Fulton, where it will also install signage.
The building is owned by retail maestro Jeff Sutton, who negotiated the 15-year transaction worth $8 million, sources said.
According to brokers, asking rents in the area run $250 to $270 a square foot.
Amira Yunis of Newmark Knight Frank represents Aldo and could not be reached for comment.
Sutton, who also did not return calls or e-mails, has a relationship with Aldo, having moved them to 603 Fifth, 27 W. 34th St. and 429 86th St. in Bay Ridge.
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The $50 million note on the development site at 111 Washington St. was just purchased for an amount “close” to par from the New York Community Bank by Pink Stone Capital.
Sources said the investment firm — run by Richard Ohebshalom, son of Empire Management’s Fred Ohebshalom — is ready to either develop or get paid off on the defaulted note that is now in foreclosure.
The site is across from the newly minted W Hotel and condos.
Ray Cecora of Platinum Properties Commercial was the sole broker in the transaction. “These deals take a long time to negotiate and put together,” Cecora said.
“I started working on 111 in September 2010 and closed this week.”
The assemblage itself is still owned by parking old-timer Gerry Brauser, who bought adjacent properties and air rights in 2006. He had every intention of developing the property into a puffed out, 50-story, 360,000-square-foot300-unit condo over an eight-story garage.
But by 2008, the site was in contract for $98 million to BCN Development’s Craig Nassi, who planned a hotel designed by Costas Kondylis. They never closed on the deal.
“We spent a lot of time and effort to design a 400,000-square-foot building and the collapse hit us like a sack of potatoes,” Nassi said.
“We believe in the location, and whoever bought the note will likely now turn it into rentals.”
Ohebshalom did not return a call by press time.
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It looks like the trend lines are sweeping upward into positive absorption and increases in both asking rents and net effective rents.
At its quarterly press breakfast at Michael’s yesterday morning, Cushman & Wakefield execs said 7.6 million feet have already been leased in the first quarter of 2011.
“The question is whether you can sustain 2.5 million square feet a month [of leasing] or is it leveling off?” said COO Joe Harbert.
The leasing activity has already bumped the vacancy rate down to 10 percent from 10.5 percent at the end of December and 11.6 percent just one year ago.
As rents are starting to rise with the drop in vacancy, Harbert said, they are seeing a deal signed “north of $100 per foot” every week in the better Plaza District buildings.
And, if you are a 500,000-foot gorilla tenant, there are only three Midtown spots open.
That’s one reason developers like Boston Properties, the Related Cos. and Vornado Realty Trust are pushing prospective developments, and Silverstein Properties and the Durst Organization are touting the already-in-construction World Trade Center buildings.
As for investment properties, at Monday’s National Realty Club luncheon at the Friars Club, Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan of CB Richard Ellis said there is “huge” demand from equity investors, primarily for Midtown properties.
“The market is defined by a lack of quality product to satisfy investor demand,” said Shanahan, who recommended seeking out value trades Downtown.
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At yesterday’s Real Estate Board of New York luncheon at the Hilton, Andrew Ackerman, a leasing associate with Vornado Realty Trust, was chosen as the Most Promising Commercial Salesperson of the Year.
Ackerman read a prepared speech and managed to thank everyone in the company except Chairman Steve Roth, who took note of the omission as soon as he was seated at the speakers table.
“It would have been much more career-enhancing if he had thanked me,” quipped Roth to laughter from the industry crowd.
Roth’s fellow speaker and deal partner on the Virgin Records buyout and the development of Moynihan Station — Related Cos. Chairman Stephen Ross — quickly descended into a more somber mood as he complained about the city’s real estate tax policy.
“Real estate taxes have reached a point that many people call them confiscatory, and it is a policy that needs to be corrected,” Ross said.
As an example, he said that real estate taxes on a residential building are now 33 to 35 percent of gross income.
“There isn’t any way you can afford to pay that kind of tax,” Ross said.
Ross also warned that once the 80/20 abatements are over, the 20 percent lower-income/lower-rent-paying tenants will be in danger of being tossed out.
Later, Ross said he’s pitching commercial office tenants to make deals for buildings at his Hudson Yards development by offering them “competitive rents” and the chance to buy their space or buildings.
He probably crossed his fingers when he said he expects to have commitments for 3.5 million square feet by the end of this year.
Similarly, Roth, who was in rare form, said they are “trolling” for a tenant for 15 Penn Plaza.
“Thanks to an adjacent tower, we have the most fa mous unbuilt build ing in America,” Roth said, alluding to the neighboring Empire State Building’s owners, who had complained the new tower would destroy the city skyline.
